Alternately Titled: "The Most Ridiculously Long Post EVER"
We had the most amazing two days of Christmas ever. It was simple. It was just us three. And it was fabulous. Of course, we would have enjoyed being with family, but to be honest, it was really great to make some Christmas traditions and memories with the simplicity of a quiet home and the freedom to have absolutely no schedule, plans or restrictions.
It started Christmas Eve morning just after breakfast. We had all slept late, which makes Alejandro and I happy but which makes Danny cranky. Plus, I swear that this kid knew new toys were coming, because he had been bored with his toys for about a week and was whining up a storm.
Until *I* finally started chanting "¡Regalos! ¡Regalos! ¡Regalos!" (regalos = presents) Alejandro looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, "Well, why not?" With a huge grin, I set down the dish I was cleaning and he hopped the baby-gate to the basement and went for Danny's biggest present.
Well, hey, if you're gonna do it out of order, you might as well do it completely out of order, right?
Right.
We plopped it under the tree...
...and let him go for it.
And pretty much from then on
there was
no more whining!
It was SO fun to watch him play!
And if Danny gets a present early...
...well, Toby should get one too, right?
Right.
(Just ignore the woman with the really sexy car-print apron on in the bathroom mirror.)
After LOTS of playtime and lunch, Danny went down for his usual afternoon nap. After so much playing, he slept for a solid three hours, which gave Alejandro and I chance to have a good long nap too! A little too long, actually, because when we woke up, we realized we had to have all three of us out the door on the way to Christmas Eve church service and we were ALL still in our jammies. Showers and clothes ironed and snack packed in the diaper bag and entertainment for Danny in church because there was no child care and heels and make up all-in-half-an-hour later... and we made it to church only 10 minutes late.
It was
totally worth it.
Our church does Christmas Eve service like none other. It was fabulous. What was even better (and really quite miraculous) is that we only had to take our 1-and-a-half-year-old out of church once even though the service was an hour and a half long. Wow.
Then, we headed back home and fed Danny the rest of his dinner (the part he didn't eat during church) and to play a bit before putting him to bed.
Then began a romantic Christmas Eve evening for the adults.
After a good long phone call to Costa Rica, we spent about two hours
making
dinner (what did you think I was going to say?)
and
half an hour
eating it.
(Again, nevermind the really sexy apron. Why is it that I look like a nerd cooking and he
somehow pulls off the hot-Latino-lover-look in a white t-shirt with food stains? Not fair.)
Yeah. Be jealous. It was scrumptious. It was pork shoulder marinated and baked according to his mom's Costa Rican recipe (which she has only in her head but which I now have on paper - ha!). It was yellow rice that somehow tasted more like Costa Rica than usual. It was Pioneer Woman's creamy mashed potatoes. Yep, I'll be sharing those recipes shortly.
It. Was. Amazing.
And extra special.
In Costa Rica, Christmas is celebrated from about 8 p.m. until about 2 a.m. starting Christmas Eve, pausing at midnight to toast the arrival of Christmas Day and give thanks in prayer, ending when everyone passes out on the couch full of food and drink. It's a par-tay so we enjoyed making a really big deal of the evening, just the two of us.
Then we migrated over to the couch, sat end-to-end with our feet squished under each other's thighs and enjoyed the food coma. Sorry for the poor picture quality. We were NOT about to get up for the real camera.
The evening sort of fizzed out from there. The magic of the Christmas treee lights and the music lulled us to sleep. Oh and I got to have a nice Facebook chat with a great friend. Around midnight we got up and placed presents under the tree before heading to bed.
After so many pictures the night before, I sort of dropped the ball Christmas morning. I didn't take many at all. I came downstairs first to put this
in the oven. (Yep, I'll share that too.) Then Danny opened a present. Then breakfast was ready so we ate. It was mmmm-mmmm good. Then we opened the rest of the presents and ooh-ed and aaah-ed over how blessed we are. Really, we are SO. BLESSED. Wow. Just Wow.
Alejandro took a while to notice that I had stuffed his stocking with a bag of kettle-corn. Then he ate the entire bag by mid-afternoon.
I did manage to think of getting this picture of the after-math of the morning...
After Danny played some more and we layed on the couch some more, we put Danny in his new Christmas outfit
and took a walk. (I love this look. He does it a lot!)
After that... lunch (leftovers from last night) an afternoon movie in bed while Danny napped, and then we went over to our friends' house to hang out, eat more, and watch another movie.
It was a wonderful wonderful day.
Sometime in the midst of it, I was reflecting about how much we really have to be thankful for. We have had some big challenges this year and yet, we still have SO much. Most of all, we have each other and we have Jesus. He redeemed us at the Cross and He redeems us daily from our mess-ups. He got in our mess and died in it so that He can be in the midst of our mess with us now.
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:4-5)
If you don't have this Hope, there is nothing I want more for you than to know that there is so much more than what is here on this earth. If you know your heart belongs to Jesus but He seems distant and only available to the most holy... if He seems like an unavailable distant god who wants you to obey rules but doesn't help you flesh it out... I want you to know that you're missing something. We are intended for Heaven but we are also intended to bring Heaven to Earth. That is what he landed in a manger for. If you don't know that, simply pray and ask Him to show Himself to you.
Last of all--I know this post is ridiculously long--I just want you all to know how much YOU, my readers mean to me. You have no idea how much joy I get from sharing here and that doesn't happen without someone to share with. So, thanks. Thanks for reading. For being you. For listening.
Merry Christmas,
